"Pryde of the X-Men" Classic Talkback (Spoilers)

[TMC1982]

Actually, that's the reason why NBC didn't pick up an earlier attempt at a X-Men series, as well New Teen Titans, around 1983. The pilot for that series is the "X-Men Adventure" episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

Mister Intensity

I don't understand why they (Sunbow and Marvel) simply couldn't produce an X-Men series for first-run syndication like they did for Transformers and G.I. Joe? As a matter of fact, why couldn't they simply use X-Men for The Marvel Action Universe over Dino-Riders (which doesn't have the brand name recognition as X-Men)?

 

[Rick Jones]

When I first saw the pilot, I was mostly familiar with the FOX show at the time. So I didn't know who Dazzler or even Kitty Pryde were at the time. I guess I saw Dazzler filling Rogue's role (the other main "X-Woman" besides Storm), Kitty filling Jubliee's role (i.e. the young female recuit), Nightcrawler playing Gambit's role (since both seemed to be a bit of a romantic, flirt with the ladies), and Colossus playing Beast's role (i.e. the resident "big, brawny and strong guy").

That's funny. It was almost the complete opposite for me. I was pretty much used to the Pryde team due to the arcade game and from when I'd glance at my uncle and cousin's old comics. I wasn't a huge X-Fan before the game because I thought Wolvie was pretty scary when I was really little, probably due to the Freddy Krueger similarities. Anyways when I was first introduced to Gambit, Beast and Rogue through Fox Kids ads, it was a bizarro moment for me. I thought Beast was like Colossus with Kurt's fur, Gambit was the agile fighter like Kurt minus the fur, and Rogue filled Dazzler's cute chick with leather jacket and headband quota.

 

[Brad Redfield]

This was my initial exposure to X-Men back before the Fox cartoon came around. I would used to rent this and various volumes of the Marvel Comics Video Library all the time.

I'd love to get it on DVD sometime as my VHS copy isn't doing too good.

 

[Trevor]

I'd love to get it on DVD sometime as my VHS copy isn't doing too good.

The only way that I've got the show on DVD is that a few months ago I found a Best of Video and Film VHS copy of the show that was practically new, and then just so that I wouldn't wear out the VHS tape, I transferred it via DVD Recorder to DVD for my own personal use.

And I hope Disney does release Pryde Of The X-Men as a Bonus on Marvel Comics Collection Five: X-Men, since the Best of Video and Film VHS was transferred to home video using the LP setting, so even when I put it on DVD on the recorders XP setting, with as little compression as possible, the video quality just didn't let the great animation work shine through.

 

[TMC1982]

In a way, I kind of see the first season of the 1990s Iron Man series as a revised version of the basic premise of the Pryde of the X-Men pilot. Both were of course, Marvel based properties involving a unique, superpowered team of heroes (Force Works) going up against a superpowered team of villains bent on world domination (Mandarin and his cronies instead of Magneto and the rest of the Brotherhood). Both shows were essentially, an excuse to sell and market toys (which a lot of action-oriented cartoons from that era were like):
Force Works:
*Iron Man = Cyclops - The field leader
*War Machine = Colossus - The resident enforcer
*Century = Nightcrawler - The most alien looking member of the team
*Scarlett Witch = Storm - The resident exotic, spiritial-like female
*Hawkeye = Wolverine - The resident hothead (Hawkeye's portrayal in the latter Avengers animated series seemed even closer in tune to that of Wolverine's on the FOX X-Men show from that era)
*Spider-Woman = Dazzler
*Yinsen = Professor X - The heroes' mentor(s)

Villains:
*Mandarin = Magneto
*MODOK = Toad - Essentially, the main whipping boy of the lead villain
*Blizzard = Pryo - Obviously, the resident elemental villain
*Hypnotia = White Queen - The sole female member of the villainous group
*Dreadknight = Juggernaut - The heavily armored villain
*Grey Gargolye = Blob - The big, highly durable, but seemingly not so mobile villian

 

[Trevor]

Both shows were essentially, an excuse to sell and market toys (which a lot of action-oriented cartoons from that era were like):

Had Marvel and Toy Biz put out any X-Men toys back in the 80's, and they were hoping that they'd have a similar success just like Hasbro had had with the C.O.P.S (or Cyber C.O.P.S as it became known). Or were no X-Men toys issued until the 1992 series had sold?

 

[TMC1982]

Hi, this is my first time posting on this Marvel board. I wanted to tell anyone who is looking for Pryde of the X-Men on VHS that they have quite a few copies of it on a website called www.half.com. All you do is go to the site, and type in the title, and it lists all the different copies on the site. They also have a bunch of those Marvel Matinee Classics and Marvel Library titles that someone mentioned earlier. The best part is, Half is pretty inexpensive. You can get POTX for about four dollars including shipping for a Like New copy.

I started a "Pryde of the X-Men" club on Yahoo! if anybody cares:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pryde_of_the_X-Men_Cartoon/?yguid=201668823

 

[VintageToonFan]

Honestly, I liked this episode. The story was simple but enjoyable and engaging, and the pacing was fast, which is something I like.

I feel the voice actors were perfectly cast for their roles. Although I do wish Wolverine had a Canadian accent, it didn't bother me very much thanks to the actor actually nailing the feral rage and showing at the end of the pilot that Wolverine may be rough, but there is a soft spot to him deep down.

All the actors were well cast, but if I had to pick my favorite casting choices (which is hard because everyone does a solid job here), it would have to be Magneto, Dazzler, Professor X, the White Queen and Kitty.

My two favorite X-Ladies have always been Psylocke and Dazzler, so seeing good ol' Dazz here was the best of treats. And what's even better, she is wearing her classic 80's suit, full with jacket and headband.

So yeah, enjoyable little piece of history. Not for everyone, but a nice way to pass the time.

 

[Rick Jones]

Pryde is a subject always near and dear to my heart. It probably crosses my mind way more than it should (two days ago, for instance). Anyways, a channel I follow just made a video discussing its history.



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[AdrenalineRush1996]

It's a shame we never got an X-Men animated series that continued after this (no, not the Fox Kids series, though it's a shame Kitty never appeared in that).

 

[Trevor]

05/04/2020:
It’s too bad that Disney hasn’t released this digitally. It’s languishing on SLP VHS’s.

08/06/2021:
With Pryde, as far as I’m aware it’s still stuck in the analog era, but does anyone know if it was released on a better format than LP/SLP NTSC VHS? Did it ever get a laserdisc or even a Betamax release? Aside from maybe finding a 3/4-inch U-Matic or Betacam SP copy that a TV station used to broadcast the special, what’s the highest quality format that Pryde was released on?

 

[Rick Jones]

The original home release was a mail-in deal from New World Pictures on VHS, and Best Film and Video Corp released it a couple of times as part of their Marvel Video line. I never saw a digital disc release floating online but I have no idea if it was even released in England or Canada or anywhere else.

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[Trevor]

The original home release was a mail-in deal from New World Pictures on VHS, and Best Film and Video Corp released it a couple of times as part of their Marvel Video line. I never saw a digital disc release floating online but I have no idea if it was even released in England or Canada or anywhere else.

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When I said ‘digital era’ I was referring to the DVD-streaming era.

On EBay there is an Italian PAL VHS up of Pryde, which was most likely recorded in SP. But with shipping to Canada it would cost like $80 CDN. Also I don’t know if it’s in English with Italian subtitles or an Italian dub. But PAL VHS, or even SECAM VHS (if it was even released in SECAM) would offer higher resolution in SP than NTSC.

 

[Rick Jones]

When I said ‘digital era’ I was referring to the DVD-streaming era.

I'm not sure what you're referring to right here. I just meant any kind of disc in general.

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[Trevor]

I'm not sure what you're referring to right here. I just meant any kind of disc in general.

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When I said the “digital era”, I meant the digital DVD-streaming era. 1997-Now. Sure there was Video CD from 1993, and MiniDV-Digital8-DVHS that were out in the mid-90’s, but they never overtook analog video, and DVD really didn’t overtake VHS & Laserdisc until 2000-01.

(I see that on marvel.fandom.com someone posted a bootleg DVD cover—-I can’t find any place online selling it and I don’t recognize the DVD company’s logo.)